Breaking Up In The Workplace

Sam broke up with his girlfriend on good terms. She even sent him a posting for a job at her internet marketing company. Sam (who's name is changed, because his job's at stake) got the position, and their relationship soon reignited. But then it turned sour again, and four months after their second breakup, his ex began dating another guy at the same company -- the CEO's younger brother.

"I didn't feel spurned," Sam says. "It was just kind of weird that this other guy -- he is what I was. I still felt some irrational feelings of ownership over her."

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Breaking up is frequently miserable. One sways between expunging every remnant of the ex-lover from your life, and stalking the Facebook profiles of anyone who posts on their photos. But it's made all the more complicated when that ex is sitting a few cubicles over, when his name appears hourly in your inbox, when you find yourselves in the same elevator, when you're competing for the same promotion.

AOL Jobs asked a few of the country's top dating coaches how best to approach and cope with the not uncommon, but commonly terrible, experience of breaking up in the workplace. Their first piece of advice:

Don't Date To Begin With

A lot of people end up hooking up with their colleagues, because, well, they're there everyday. "When we're working so many hours, you're having a lot of exposure to those people," says Lisa Clampitt, the president and owner of the matchmaking club VIP Life, who's been a matchmaker and dating coach for 12 years. "And sometimes it makes you psyched about being with someone, seeing them competent, and good at their jobs -- it makes them sexy."

But that extra reason to get up in the morning, that brief daily flirtation, that exchange to play back in your head at night -- they don't necessarily translate into a healthy, functioning relationship.

"Most relationships don't last," says Amber Kelleher-Andrews, the CEO of matchmaking company Kelleher International, which has interviewed over 40,000 couples. "A lot of people think, 'Yeah, I want to spend every second with him. I'm in love with them.' But a lot of guys jump into it, and have the bachelor's pad, and she moves in, and he can't get away from her."

You Did, And Now It Sucks

Or in the words of Clampitt: "Emotional sickness is at least as bad as a cold."

You're Back At Work, And It Sucks

You're back at the office, and watching him give a presentation and chuckle in that deeply offensive way he always does at the end of every sentence. You want to tear out the projector cord and cause him bodily harm and then curl up into the fetal position. But then your boss decides that the two of you would make a super team for a new and very important project.

"You just have to grin and bear it," says Clampitt. "You made the decision to create a personal relationship in your work environment. And you can't impose that on your work."

This is especially important for women, she adds. "Women who are pegged as emotional and clingy, they've got to hold their own in a work environment. It's really, really important to maintain your competency."

"Why would you want to give them the satisfaction of being promoted before you do?" adds Nancy Slotnick. "It's punishing yourself."

Don't Seek Revenge, Unless You Do It Professionally

But while it's totally inappropriate to bring petty, personal issues into the workplace, there are mature and acceptable ways to seek revenge.

"What you could do, if you want to play hardball, is to try and get him off the project for legitimate business reasons," says Slotnick. "That would be the empowered move. All's fair in love and war, and you don't have to be the victim."

"If you were jilted because they were sleeping with 30 other girls," she explains, "chances are that he might be telling his boss that he's doing a bunch of work, when he's not really."

Simply ask your boss, she advises, if your ex has handed in the reports he was supposed to, or finished up the assignment. Bringing all your ex's terrible professional deficiencies to the attention of your supervisor is good for the company, and good for your ego.

Do It Anyway

Despite these grim warnings, all the dating coaches we spoke to emphasized that you should never pass up the chance for a real, lasting connection, just because he or she clocks in at the same place.

"I think sometimes people are afraid to test the waters, because they think it will be frowned upon," says Slotnick. "So they don't, unless they're really drunk at the holiday party."

But we should go for it when we're drunk or sober anytime of the year. "I think love's a priority in our lives, way over career," says Clampitt. "You just have to be smart about it, not choosing a fling over a career, but choosing a love over a career."

Even Sam, who watched his coworker ex get more and more serious with the CEO's brother -- they've now been living together for two years -- doesn't veto the idea of workplace dating. "I'd never categorically advise against it," he says. "I just think it raises the bar for how seriously you need to think about it."

Over a cigarette or two, the two co-workers even talked out their issues. "He's a very nice guy," he says. "A little annoying sometimes, but a legitimately nice guy."

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FSHNT21

Don't dip your pen in company ink...It's no harder and no simpler than that...When you work with a person, you will see them for longer periods of time each day than you will see anyone else. If you choose to take it further, now you will continue to see that person for AT LEAST the same amount of time, whether you want to or not. If things are not working romantically, you still have to see that person for the same amount of time unless one of you wants to change jobs...None of this includes the typical workplace sniping and backstabbing that take place....Think long and hard about the consequences before you go down this road....

Boy this woman annoys the crap out of me.Revenge sounds like something a teenager would do in high school .Look it takes two to tango so to speak,so grow up and go your separate ways .You will see that everything will be OK and life will go on .Nobody likes a trouble maker!

What can go wrong with dating your boss? Here is an excerpt from the lawsuit I just filed for my client who was subjected to a sexually hostile work environment and later fired for complaining of the continued treatement at the hands of her manager, who wanted her ony for sex and not for any relationship:

I dated Mr.Gates, a Manager with Defendant Company. After we broke up, and I began to date someone else, Mr. Gates would continue to proposition me for sex, despite my telling him no. Even though Mr. Gates knew I was in a new relationship, he would still send me pictures of his genitals and tell me he missed me and that he wanted to be back with me. These actions towards me were unwanted and Mr. Gates was aware that I did not want him to do these things. I told Mr. Gates not to send me anymore texts or to proposition me any further. This seemed to make him angry.

That next week, my hours were cut to around 30 hours a week, if that, sometimes 26 and 28 hour weeks. There was no reason for my hours to be cut, as I was an Assistant Store Manager and I wanted to work as many hours as I could. Instead, other employees (some who didn’t want more hours) were scheduled to work. Then Mr. Gates assigned me project that was impossible to complete in the time that was given. WHen I did not complete it, he terminated me for failing to complete the project (a project nobody had ever completed in such a short time and was not reassigned to be completed in such a short time either).